Indian River

Joe Ellick took a pass from Roy Addison and made a layup with 10 seconds left to secure Broward Community College`s 67-63 victory against Indian River Wednesday night in the Southern Conference. George Harper led BCC (8-16, 3-7) with 12 points, and Irving Williams and Ellick added 10 each. Victor Diehl led Indian River with 12, and Douglas Mason added 11.

Eleven of Florida's coastal school districts agreed on a simple four-word message Friday: suspend high- stakes testing. The Greater Consortium of Florida School Boards, which includes School Board representatives from Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, is asking state lawmakers to put a three-year moratorium on any consequences or penalties related to testing. They say this would allow time for the state to develop a valid and reliable testing system and to review the high pressure atmosphere they say state testing has created.

Palm Beach Junior College faces top seed Indian River Community College at 8 tonight in the semifinals of the Southern Conference tournament in Fort Pierce. Broward Community College plays Miami-Dade South at 6 p.m., with the finalists to meet Thursday. Thursday`s winner will advance to the state tournament March 3-5 in Orlando. Conference champion Miami-Dade North received an automatic bid. PBJC (17-15) is 0-2 against Indian River, losing 118-115 in four overtimes at IRCC and 82-80 at PBJC.

FORT PIERCE -- Broward Community College coach Gary Nelson knows the odds are stacked against his team at today`s National Junior College Athletic Association Swimming & Diving Championship. Defending national men`s and women`s champion Indian River has too much depth and tradition for BCC to challenge. Still, BCC has an excellent chance at finishing among the top three men`s and women`s teams in the 14-team field at host Indian River. "We just don`t have enough to crack Indian River`s dominance over the past 18 years," Nelson said.

Excuse the kings of community college swimming if they feel uneasy heading into this week's National Junior College Athletic Association's swimming and diving championships at the International Swimming Hall of Fame Aquatic Center. The event, which kicks off today and concludes Saturday, will bring together 153 swimmers and divers from 13 junior and community colleges around the country. It opens with diving preliminaries at 1 p.m. today. Thursday through Saturday, preliminaries begin at 11 a.m. and finals start at 6 p.m. The competition has served as the annual coronation for Indian River Community College's men's swimming team, victors of 21 consecutive NJCAA championships, the nation's longest collegiate tournament winning streak.

For the second time in a month, a boatload of illegal foreigners was found trying to sneak into Florida's central coastline on Wednesday, adding to concerns that smugglers from the Bahamas are changing tactics. Officers from the Indian River County Sheriff's Office arrested five people after they disembarked from a 22-foot boat that landed off Wabasso Beach Park, north of Vero Beach, shortly after 2 p.m. The three men and two women were among at least 10 people thought to have been passengers on the boat.

There`ll be a little extra room in the Palm Beach Junior College trophy case this spring. For the first time in four years, the Pacers baseball team won`t be adding to the collection. Indian River Community College rallied for four runs in the final two innings Tuesday to defeat Palm Beach 6-5. The loss eliminated the Pacers not only from Southern Conference championship contention but from the upcoming state tournament as well. The Pacers` loss combined with Tuesday victories by Miami-Dade New World Center and Miami-Dade North makes Palm Beach`s regular-season finale with Indian River today meaningless.

After years of serving as a convenient place to dump sewage and other pollutants, the Indian River is emerging as the environmental cause celebre for a diverse coalition of bureaucrats, politicians and scientists. Their goal: stop the piecemeal destruction of a scenic waterway and an increasingly important cog in the state`s economy. The rescue effort is moving quickly. Soon, planes with infrared cameras will swoop low over the 120-mile river to photograph its biological backbone -- grass beds.

Had Brian Alderman been eligible to compete at this week's National Junior College Athletic Association Swimming Championships in Rochester, N.Y., Broward Community College men's team would have had a great shot at winning its first title. Now, "it's dead even," BCC coach Garry Nelson said of the battle between his team and perennial power and defending champion Indian River. It was Indian River that protested the eligibility of Alderman, a world-class butterflier. Alderman, a student at BCC since last winter, had accepted $300 in prize money at a money meet in Oklahoma.

Go green and save green when Florida's first-ever tax holiday for Energy Star and WaterSense products kicks off Friday through Sunday. In Broward and Palm Beach County, consumers can pocket 6 percent sales tax and score extra savings during retail sales on eligible appliances like refrigerators, washers and dryers, as well as water-conserving products like toilets, faucets and shower heads. In Miami-Dade County, residents save 7 percent sales tax. The tax exemption applies to the first $1,500 of select products.

Most elections give voters a choice between two candidates. But when it comes to the judges running for re-election to the appeals court, the rules are a little different. When voters decide whether Fourth District Court of Appeal judges Alan Forst, Mark Klingensmith, Matthew Stevenson and Martha Warner deserve to keep their jobs, they will be given two choices: yes and no. There won't be opposing candidates, and voters will have no direct say in who will replace them if they lose.

What Capt. Sam Heaton's custom Gheenoe lacks in size and power it makes up for in access and stealth. And take it from me, there's a lot to be said about being able to fish places that other anglers can't get to, as well as being able to get a cast at fish that don't know you're there. That's why Heaton loves to fish the shallowest spots in the Indian River with his 15 1/2-foot Gheenoe. On a recent trip, Heaton used an 8-foot paddle to push us into position by a point on a mangrove shoreline where big snook like to hang out. We actually had a fish swim right in front of us, but the snook ignored my D.O.A.

An appropriations bill passed by the U.S. House late Thursday would provide $65.5 million for Everglades restoration, including $38 million to restore the polluted Indian River Lagoon. The project is especially important to parts of northern Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, which have suffered from polluted discharges from Lake Okeechobee. Congressman Patrick Murphy, who lobbied hard for the funding, called it “an accomplishment made possible by the continued advocacy and engagement from a united community speaking up for our St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.

Dirty water being discharged from Lake Okeechobee to the south and a sea grass die-off to the north has made for tough sea trout fishing in the Indian River. That's why Paul Strauss looks for two things as he drives his flats boat along the river: Clean water and baitfish. In an effort to keep Lake Okeechobee's level from getting too high and breaching the dike around the lake, water has constantly been released down the St. Lucie River and out St. Lucie Inlet. That nasty water has devastated the habitat and marine life there and in the Indian River.

Gov. Rick Scott skipped over five more experienced judges and picked Mark Klingensmith, a relative judicial newcomer, on Thursday to fill a vacancy on the Fourth District Court of Appeal, which includes Broward and Palm Beach counties. The Republican governor's move wasn't exactly a shock. Klingensmith had a credential that jumped out to people in the legal and political worlds, especially among Democrats. He's a former chairman of the Martin County Republican Party. He's also a former commissioner and mayor of the Town of Sewall's Point.

Two lawsuits demanding an end to the drawdown of a Central Florida lake that's sending water into Lake Okeechobee have run into a problem: Legal funds are drying up. On Friday, Kevin Stinnette, the riverkeeper for the Indian River, told fellow members of the Rivers Coalition that more than half the $8,000 donated to a legal-expense fund already has been spent. And the paperwork hasn't even been officially filed. "We have a really good case. We have a lot of support showing the damage they're doing," Stinnette said.

Dirty water being discharged from Lake Okeechobee to the south and a sea grass die-off to the north has made for tough sea trout fishing in the Indian River. That's why Paul Strauss looks for two things as he drives his flats boat along the river: Clean water and baitfish. In an effort to keep Lake Okeechobee's level from getting too high and breaching the dike around the lake, water has constantly been released down the St. Lucie River and out St. Lucie Inlet. That nasty water has devastated the habitat and marine life there and in the Indian River.

Have you seen this man? Apparently a lot of women have. Augustine Whelan told authorities he has urges to expose himself in the public, reports TCPalm in Stuart. No kidding. The 42-year-old Palm Bay man also told authorities he was previously arrested on indecent exposure charges in Brevard, Indian River and St. Lucie counties, according to the Sheriff's Office report. The naked flasher-dasher 'fessed up after deputies found his mask in bushes where they saw Whelan's truck stop during one of the incidents.

South Florida bike transportation planners are eyeing the corridor along the Florida East Coast Railroad as a way to connect cities along the route for bike riders. "There's space in that right of way to include a shared-use path," said Bret Baronak, the Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organization's bike and pedestrian coordinator. "I would love to see it because it connects all the towns. " He and his colleague are thinking of off-road trails, also called greenways, used by walkers and bicyclists for recreation and transportation.